Jump Gates
Technical Overview Jump gates are expensive and (mostly) permanent self-powered facilities at specific points across the galaxy. Two gates are linked together through a set of stable, known, and fixed coordinates in the galaxian plane. After some charge up time, a wormhole in spacetime is formed which can be traversed with standard sublight engines in a fraction of the time. The amount of time that it takes to traverse through a jump gate is generally about 1 week, regardless of real-world distance. This generally limits the use of these gates to fairly far apart systems. Traditional bubble-drive use within these wormholes is incredibly unstable and no known shipboard systems are currently capable of the task. However, hypothetically, a blink drive could send its beacon through the wormhole and then immediately blink to that new point Power Consumption Factors Power for jump gates scales with the total volume of wormhole that must be created. This means that wormholes that accept larger vessels or traverse longer distance will require more power to operate. The power required to initially start up a wormhole is immense, so these facilities are generally found near stars or other large power sources. However, once the wormhole is initiated, it doesn't take much power to keep the portal open. In practice, this allows jump gates to stay open for hours at a time (depending on design and link). Side effects of Charge-up time Bars and "truck stops" Usage Linking Two gates must be linked together and powered on at the same time. A sending gate will initiate a wormhole towards the destination coordinates and upon reaching the required power level, will establish a stable wormhole between the two points in space. Initially, having both gates be powered on was a logistical and technological nightmare, however, modern jump gates allow a gate to go into a standby mode (using a small amount of power) which will allow any authorized gate to connect. Mapping, Authorization, and Use Jump gates are traditionally held by either the largest of corporations or by sections of government. These organizations, private or otherwise, will generally charge tolls for a ship to use the jump gate. Additionally, if two gates link from different owners, the sending gate will often pay out a portion of the tolls collected and a flat fee. To prevent unauthorized gate activation, many listening gates will require a encrypted access code to be sent through the moment that the gate is established. If the key is incorrect, the receiving gate immediately cuts power and shuts down, denying any further transfer of matter or information. Premature Cutoff In the event that the stability of the gate is disrupted (power, structure, etc), the wormhole will decay in what is known as a "trailing implosion". In this situation, the wormhole recedes from the interrupted location at 1C (in respect to its localized space-time frame of reference (so faster to an onlooker)). Matter and information caught outside the implosion is seemingly destroyed. This fact makes detecting the duration of a jump gate (or the time that it can be sustained with the available power) incredibly important. As such, there are often large warnings setup along the gate structure that alert when a distance cannot be safely traversed. Mobile Jump Gates Used for colonization. Owned by corporations/government entities